We grow hybrid hazelnut bushes, hybrid chestnut trees and hybrid hickory trees. We are very pleased to see that we're on your site and will be watching - we're willing to address any comments and help if we can.

Comments:

I ordered hazel plants for planting in a very dry environment. I got a confirmation on my order immediately. The staff was very friendly and answered all my concerns. They shipped beautiful plants. I am really looking forward to my nuts!

I placed an order for chestnuts, hazels and hickory-pecans in the spring of 2011. Ordering was simple, I quickly received confirmation of my order, and the plants were shipped during the week that I requested. Plants arrived in excellent condition, packed well. I planted them all that day. One hazelnut died within a couple weeks-- it was a bit smaller and drier than the rest to begin with. The rest have thrived, and even after being nibbled down by rabbits the first winter, have remained healthy and happy.
I am now considering another order for more chestnut trees, and was surprised by all the negativity here. The company is quite clearly a research facility with a very small staff. I am looking forward to doing business with them again.

I ordered several sets of hazelnuts, plus hickories and some butternuts. As with other comments, I had great difficulty in getting information about when plants would be shipped. Plus some plants were no longer available and rather than being given an options to re-order and pay when available - the next year - they kept all of the money and sent some of the missing items the next year.

The most frustrating thing for me is the group does not respond to e-mail and for me, who has to travel to our second place to plant the plants, not getting this response made things very difficult for me. The group did finally respond after stressing that they were really busy and I was being a bother. These people may do great plant breeding - although I must admit I had an 80% mortality rate on the plants I received from them - they really should not be in the mail order business.

Posted on July 15, 2009, updated March 15, 2012
I ordered 21 hybrid hazelnut trees (shrubs, bushes, whatever) in fall of 2007. In April I asked when I should receive them, and eventually received a very rude response about checking the web page, where indeed it says they don't ship until May. When I received my order, I received 25 bare root dormant plants that ranged from 3 to 8 inches tall. At least 8 were covered with gray mold. Only eight looked healthy. I planted, watered and waited, but I contacted the company and let them know the plants condition. The web page indicated they might replace the moldy ones. No response. I contacted them again, twice, a year later, to let them know that no more than 8 ever showed any signs of life. The first time I got no response. The second time I contacted them through Dave's Garden website and they responded saying I would receive a replacement. I never heard from them again. Now in summer (two weeks of 105 degrees of summer) three of them have survived. There are other places to get hazelnut trees, even hybrid hazelnut trees, and I would recommend that you go elsewhere to get yours. I'll check back in a few years to let you know how these nuts turn out. I found the Badgersett people to be mostly unresponsive and rude. On March 15th, 2012, kuczwanski1 added the following:

It is now 2012 and probably safe to add comments about dealing with this company. Every attempt to contact them or expect them to act on promises was accompanied by at least a very long delay and a pathetic excuse. Only 4 of my initial order of 21, for which I paid $132, ever survived. After about a year of trying I eventually received a replacement shipment and none of those survived even though I planted immediately and kept them out of the sun until they saw the hole. I mail order many trees, shrubs and other plants from other companies and never had any look as bad as that first shipment. I really appreciate Dave's Garden Watchdog as I have found the comments to be an excellent guide.

Posted on September 1, 2010, updated September 1, 2010
Just a little note from Badgersett, in response.

Yes indeedy, we can be rude. We even say so, right up front. We're a tiny, vastly overworked, family enterprise. Until our website got overhauled by a well-meaning person, we had a big message on our order page:

"Warning!: if you call us up asking for information that is right here for you to read, we will probably be rude to you!"

You expect good behavior and attention to detail from us? Right you are. We expect the same from our customers. We ain't WalMart - we live by our sweat.

I ordered hazelnut tubelings (per their instructions-etc) on 7-20-09. I sent the order blank and a check which was cleared by my bank on 8-6-09. I never received an acknowledgement of this . After numerous e-mails, phone calls, etc, I am still waiting for an acknowledgement of a planned shipping date or the "refund of the check" as they stated in their website. I received an e-mail stating that "they are overloaded with work" (however they had time to cash the check). After sending another e-mail and making a phone call (just this morning - Feb 4, 2010) I feel the least they could do is "RETURN THE CHECK". I will never do business with them again !!!!

I've tried contacting this company since 4/15/09. Today is 5/5/09. They say email is the best way in which to correspond. I've sent four emails. No response to any of them. I simply am inquiring to find out if my order was even received (no confirmation of any kind was sent out), and if so an approximate shipping date. Hopefully I can come back and change this to a positive, but right now things aren't looking too good.